John Hastings out of IPL for the whole season

In a big blow to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), all-rounder John Hastings has been ruled out of IPL 2016 due to an ankle injury. He won’t be able to feature in the remaining matches of the season for KKR, team’s assistant coach, Simon Katich confirmed. Josh Hasting out of IPL for the whole season will affect the team’s performance to a certain degree as he was the most economical bowler of KKR.

John Hastings started the season strong, picking up 2 wickets and conceding only 6 runs, against the Delhi Daredevils in KKR’s opening game. However, before the clash against Mumbai Indians, Hastings hurt his ankle but played the game through injury. His condition worsened through the game, and Hastings has now been ruled out for the rest of the tournament.

KKR assistant coach and fellow countryman, Simon Katich, threw some light into the matter. “He bowled through a fair bit of pain. He had a fair bit of scans after that, and he has flown back to Australia. It’s a shame to see his campaign end prematurely,” Katich told ESPNcricinfo.

“He had fitted in really well into the team, and he had performed well in a couple of games. Yeah, unfortunately he’ll be doing a lot of rehab instead and working towards getting fit for the West Indies’ tour for Australia,” he added.

The KKR management will now seek a replacement to fill the void left by the burly Australian, and are awaiting approval on the matter after having sent their recommendation to the IPL technical committee.

“It’s someone that we had already looked at in the auction,” Katich said. “Obviously, we did get John. He (Hastings) was right up there on the priority list when we went for the auctions. We didn’t know if it was going to come through or not so we had a few other names in mind. We’ll find out if it comes through,” added the 40-year old.